The Medieval Book

This collection draws together images from The Medieval Book, the catalogue of an exhibition held at the Beinecke Library in 1988 and curated by Vice-Provost Barbara Shailor. A celebration of the Beinecke Library’s extraordinary collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, the exhibition examined the development, construction, and function of the book in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Searching for Catalog Records

The manuscript collections have been described extensively in the Catalogue of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, volumes 1-3 of which were edited by Barbara Shailor, and volume 4 of which was edited by Robert Babcock, Lisa Davis, and Philip Rusche.

Volume 1: List of Abbreviations (pdf, 5 p.) and Introduction, by Barbara Shailor (pdf, 8 p.)

Volume 2: List of Abbreviations (pdf, 4 p.)

Volume 3: Abbreviations and Introduction (pdf, 13 p.)

Volume 4: Introduction, and Bibliography and Abbreviations (pdf, 9 p.)

The full-text of these catalogues can be searched in the Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts Catalog.

Searching for Digital Images

The Beinecke Library is actively scanning its medieval and Renaissance holdings. Images can be searched by way of the “Search within this collection” box on the upper-left corner of this page and through the Library’s Digital Images database.